


Draka Imperium

by Mollish



Series: Draka Imperium [1]
Category: Draka Imperium
Genre: Fantasy, Gen, Original Character(s), Original Universe, dragon - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 13:32:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17122310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mollish/pseuds/Mollish
Summary: Empires will crumble. Alliances will be broken and forged anew. Friends will gather, old and new. Magic courses through the inhabitants of Draka Imperium - elemental prowess that is little understood and respected even less. Only when a grave mistake is made, only when an entire way of life is brought to its knees, and even the most powerful of beings are forced to pause and take note, is there a hope of change.Follow the adventures of the young dragon, Anyth, the inexplicably powerful hybrid, Uovos,  the orphaned Palidalba, and the Imperial Empress herself, Aestaire, as well as their numerous allies and enemies, as they forge a new legacy in the world of Draka Imperium.





	1. Draka Imperium - Prologue

Prologue: An Introduction to the Life, Culture, and History of Imperials and Others.

Before the towering mountains, the abyssal seas, the babbling brooks, the planets, the stars, and even time itself, there was nothing. A sea of nothingness, if you would - a void filled neither with matter nor without it. It was conceptual, ideal, chaotic, and as simple as simple can be. It was everywhere and nowhere, yesterday and tomorrow, emotion, power, and will.

Then, the Gap appeared. At the dawn of time or at the final curtain, that matters not.

Beyond the Gap, nobody knows. An interdimensional wormhole? Yet another void? Interconnected consciousness? That, too, is not the key.

The key is this, this alone, it was and always will be: Dust. Comprised of everything you think it would be, and everything you wouldn't. An ideal, a concept, all beings rolled into one, Dust is everything. Dust created time. Dust created the stars and planets. It created the babbling brooks, the abyssal seas, and the towering mountains. But most importantly, Dust created the Elements, the pure quintessence that flows through each and every thing that can be categorized as being "alive". An amoeba, a patch of moss, a field mouse, everything from the smallest virus to the largest predator.

Some of these beings have been gifted with higher quantities of innate Dust, which they then naturally passed down through the generations. Each of these superior beings were dubbed "Elementals", by themselves, nonetheless. Their gifts were at first widely valued, cherished, worshipped even, for many centuries. However, as years flew by, the gifts were seen as being more and more ordinary. More mundane. As societies grew, as families were forged and broken apart, being elementless became an oddity. Something to be shunned. An error. A mutation. A mistake. Non-Elementals were cast out of society, viewed as being cursed by the rift gods that had created the Gap and introduced Dust in the first place. It was a sign of abnormality, and something to be both feared and disgraced.

At least, this is what those that followed Pulvisism believed. "Dust unto dust", they cried. These were the words they swore by, lived by, every day of their lives.

And who is "they", exactly?

Well, that would be the Imperials, of course.

Dragons that reigned over the central portion of the vast landmass known as Draka Imperium dubbed themselves "Imperials" millenia ago, when they first began to conquer those they called the "lesser races" - those consisting mostly of their wingless cousins: the Drakes. The Drakes themselves were comprised of several subraces - the Sand Drakes (spiked, venomous beings that live a tribal lifestyle in the western deserts), Snow Drakes (small, furred creatures that reside only in the far north), and the Ground Drakes (the most numerous of the drake subspecies, and the most genetically similar to the Imperial Dragons, minus the wings). The Wyverns, on the other paw, did not prove to be as much of a problem -the Akhean Wyverns (smaller, chameleon-like beings that call the south-western tropics their home) and the Magna Wyverns (who, despite their absolutely gargantuan size and deadly toxic barbs, tended to keep to their territory in the southeast). The Mountain Dragons in the north were hardly a concern, either, as they had split away from their Imperial brethren centuries before and had cut off all contact for hundreds of years. After dealing with the Ground Drake "infestation", the Imperials called the four central Taigas their home, and still do to this day. They christened their combined territory the Imperial Empire, considering that they had conquered other races to claim it as their own.

Every empire must have an emperor. Or, in this case, an Empress. Ever since the first Empress came into power, the empire has remained matriarchal ever since. The royal bloodline, comprised only of water elementals, has remained pure since its formation. Not a single drop of non-water elemental blood has been mixed with that of the reigning power, and not once has the option even been considered. Tradition is everything to the Imperial Dragons. Perhaps this is why it took nearly a millennia for the dragons to comprehend that ostracizing and segregating the Drakes was both unwise and impractical.

Regardless, this was only possible after the conclusion of the bloodiest war that Draka Imperium as seen to date - Ai'Rikhan's Rebellion. Ai'Rikhan himself was not actually a drake, but a dragon who had been sentenced to a fate worse than death in the eyes of his peers as punishment for patricide: 'grounding', by which a dragon's wings are forcibly removed from his body, and the dragon himself is regarded as a creature of lower status than the pebbles he walks on. Ai'Rikhan, along with other grounded dragons, found a new family in the Drake society. Through the applied use of his eloquent tongue and persuasive aspirations, Ai'Rikhan was able to stir up the Drakes into a fervor that made his rebellion possible. The war itself was long, and the casualties were high. The fighting culminated with his death after ten years of bloody warfare, but a treaty was formed between the Imperials and the Drakes one year later. This ended the unnecessary bloodshed, and recognized the Drakes as an organized people that deserved more rights than they had been shown previously, but citizenship was still not bestowed until many years later.

These events are what created the foundation for the modern Imperial Empire. If one studies the reign of several Empresses down the bloodline following the rebellion, one can observe the formation of steady alliances between both Dragons and Drakes, the emergence of the Mountain Dragons from their hidden Underground City and the introduction of their arcane crafts, and the formation of numerous successful trade relations and routes between the races. Violent outbreaks still occured, to be sure, but were much less common.

However, even in modern times, there are still many who believe that the races should revert back to their old habits and relations, who still view Drakes as lower beings, who continue to think of Imperials as nothing more than slave masters in denial.

Hundreds of years later, when the tension is just at the point of instability, when the Wyverns finally begin to make a stand, and when ancient magics are reintroduced into the world, is where our story begins. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Additional lore-related links:

Historical Timeline: https://tinyurl.com/yasmsyjn

Religions: http://fav.me/daklsyh

Courting: http://fav.me/dav95aj

The Dust Ids: http://fav.me/dayvtgd

Snow Drakes: http://fav.me/dbbaph3

Magna Wyverns: http://fav.me/dbb8ip6

Akhean Wyverns: http://fav.me/dce4i9k

Sand Drakes: (Link coming soon)

Additional Content: https://mollish.deviantart.com/gallery/59141933/The-World-of-Draka-Imperium


	2. Draka Imperium - Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the reader is introduced to Anyth, Uovos, and Palidalba.

~Anyth~

It was still taking his eyes some time to adjust to this sensation of light - this obscure ability to see, considering that Anyth had only come into this world several hours previously. Fuzzy shapes, some fluid, some immobile, were outlined and defined by contrasting properties that took him some time to differentiate between - color and light.

One of those fluid shapes was very large, and appeared to be attempting to block Anyth's view of the harsh brightness shining through the solid shapes behind it. As he blinked, Anyth gained a more coherent glimpse of the fluid shape, the thing shielding the painful glare of the light - it had four other shapes connected to it, each ending with four pointed nubs like his own. It had two more shapes its back - much larger and thinner than the others. These ones commanded Anyth's attention briefly, for when they moved they jostled the air, creating a light breeze. Anyth was far more entranced by the part of the fluid shape that was closest to him, however - the part that also created a soft breeze, although this one was warm, rhythmic, and comforting. Amid the soothing breeze came equally soft, pacifying noises that calmed Anyth and made him feel welcome in this strange new world of light, color, and warmth. Although he knew not if the noises carried any meaning behind them, he knew that the source they came from was amiable, for that fluid shape had been with him since his first moments in this life.

As the shapes, sounds, and other sensations slowly sharpened around him, Anyth began to gain a sense of recognition of the fluid figure. It bared many similarities to himself - it was ashen grey in color, tinted with purple and adorned with spikes in some areas and softer regions in others. The place where the calming noises originated sported rows of sharp things, above which nestled two faintly luminescent blue orbs that appeared to be looking at him. Anyth wasn't afraid of the spikes, shiny orbs, or sharp things, however - he knew that this warm mass of shapes had brought him here, and was here to protect him. He didn't know why, or for how long, only that this was a fact, and that was the first truth he had ever realized.

This is why, when the green light came, he was baffled. The light was bright, more fierce than the glare the protective figure was shielding him from, and certainly much more so than the blue orbs that blinked at him. The intensity was painful, it was wrong, somehow. Within the span of only a few seconds, the comforting, familiar figure was gone, and so was the warm breeze, the soft blue gaze, and the soothing utterances. Anyth felt cold, alone, and afraid - three entirely new experiences thrust upon him all at once. All of these things and more added to his overwhelming confusion.

Particularly that the green light, the one that had robbed him of what little he had in this world, had come from him.

 

~Uovos~

"Is that really all you can do?"

Uovos wheezed as he was thrown unceremoniously against hard desert rocks, each ridge digging into his back upon impact. His caramel hide was blotched with purple and blue, the signs of oncoming bruises that would inevitably ache for weeks following. The light blue of his chin and stomach that normally contrasted quite beautifully with the rest of his more neutral tones was dirtied and bloodied, completely covered in the gritty sand that surrounded him for miles, as was his mane, too. He fell to the ground, and coughed as he accidentally inhaled a mouthful of sand. Uovos looked up, frills extended in mock courage, but his wide brown eyes betrayed his true sense of fear of the drake that had just beaten him senseless.

Again.

That drake was now standing above him, looking as disapproving and condescending as ever. Uovos' father was still an oddity to him - snowy white and icy blues had no place in the scolding, red wastes. He was a snow drake, an unlikely inhabitant of the western desert. His thick white mane and frosty coat were also covered in a light layer of sand, only from traveling, rather than fighting. The spines on his head and back glistened like icicles in the desert sun. Such a specimen had no place in an environment like this, and yet, here he was: smug, almost bored, and awaiting his son's response, his deep black eyes more like two small abysses than anything else.

"Please... just let me try one more time," Uovos sputtered out.

"Fine," the snow drake said nonchalantly. "Just don't fail me again," he said as he turned back around, although his tone already told Uovos that his father already knew what the similarly disappointing outcome would be.

Shakily, Uovos stumbled to his feet, his toes sinking further into the hot sand and spined tail dragging behind him with the effort. He looked up again at his sire, the flaming setting sun turning his form into nothing more than a threatening silhouette. His long shadow was cast over the dunes, ending just before it reached Uovos. Shadows didn't scare him, but those that lurked in them certainly did. Already anticipating the result, Uovos opened his jaws as wide as they could go, and exhaled.

As expected, nothing happened, other than another sad wheeze.

"Pathetic," the snow drake pointed a small but deadly sharp claw in his son's face.

"How do you expect to fight anything when you cannot even utilize an element, much less hold your own physically? If you don't even have an element, then what good are you?" His spines were standing erect now, with added rage. His nostrils flared.

"You're not a dragon. You're small, weak. By the Gap, you're not even a drake at this point - you might as well be one of those mindless beasts from the south!" he spat, and the sand at his feet froze where it landed, only to commence thawing a second later.

"I... I'm sorry-" Uovos backed up against the hard rocks again, anything to make him feel more stable.

"Sorry doesn't cut it. Be better. I'm taking you to your mother. Get up, whelp."

Uovos did as he was told, albeit slowly, and limped after his sire who was already far ahead of him. He looked down at the large tracks in the sand from where the larger drake's tail had dragged lazily, and then behind him to the area of his own scuffle. For as long as he could remember, Uovos' father had been 'training' him at this spot, although 'training' could just as easily be called 'abusing'. He was just as weak as he was when he first hatched, if not even more, emotionally. Uovos fell deep into his own thoughts as he picked up his pace over the dunes. What was more disappointing was not his consistent failures, but his inability to improve, even a little. His father was right - without an element, what was he? Nothing more than a big, lumbering lizard, capable of eating, sleeping, and almost nothing else. For the fifth consecutive time that week, Uovos choked back tears, and tried to mask the self-loathing in his eyes by looking at the ground, at the tracks in the sand. The sun was setting fast - he knew he should walk faster if they wanted arrive back at the dwelling before the desert crawlers came out of their burrows.

~~~~ 

The sky was just tinged with golden rays by the time the hatchling and his father returned to the large group of boulders that they called 'home'. The snow drake finally stopped at the narrow cave entrance, and motioned for Uovos to go inside. Without meeting his sire's gaze, Uovos limped past and squeezed in through between the boulders, into the relative darkness. His father followed him, with a little more grace and ease than himself. Inside, there was a surprising amount of room, dimly lit by small collections of glowing embers scattered about the internal space. They gave off a faint light - enough to see, at least.

"Get out of my sight," the snow drake spat.

Uovos did so without comment. He slid between the cracks of two more boulders, into the darkness of another room.

~~~~ 

The snow drake sighed as he lay down, resting for the first time in a while. He stretched his body out to its full length and yawned loudly.

"Kratharchi? Is that you?" a gravelly female voice rang from elsewhere in the cave.

Kratharchi turned his head to the direction of the voice, his black eyes narrowing.

"Yes. The whelp has returned with me. As I expected, nothing has changed."

A slender, dusty colored sand drake slid out from another chamber, and sauntered over to him. She was considerably taller than him, which was natural considering her race, and had twice as threatening an appearance. Her own spines were more numerous, forming a crown of caramel thorns, and ran down the back of her neck. Those on her tail were darker toned, and much larger, suitable for both clubbing and slitting, if the need arose. The mahogany, dappled spots on her back provided an excellent camouflage in the desert environment, and her thin, needle-like claws coupled with slightly webbed paws made traversing across the sand an easy task. Her frills, much like her son's, were used expressively, only hers were relaxed as she entered the cavern. Her piercing yellow eyes, however, and slitted pupils gave away her impatience.

"Typical", she hissed.

"No amount of discipline seems to work on him," Kratharchi commented, and proceeded to summarize the events of that day to his mate. About halfway through the recounting, which she had heard similar renditions of countless times before, she stopped him.

"I've made up my mind".

Kratharchi raised an eyeridge.

"We'll call the Bird," she looked him straight in the eyes.

Kratharchi raised his other eyeridge as well.

"The Bird? Even for you, Daristhesda, that's risky," he said as he got to his feet once again.

Daristhesda walked past him and looked out of the cavern through the small crack in the entrance boulders, through which several small, late rays of sunlight were filtering.

"Uovos is useless in this state, as we have discussed and observed time and time again. Unless we call the Bird, we should get rid of him. Tonight. He's more trouble than he's worth like this. We lose nothing, either way."

The snow drake paused, and carefully considered his options before consenting. He himself had only ever seen the Bird once, and that was years ago. He trusted his mate completely in her practices, but the same could not be said for those she... 'worked' with.

"Alright. Do what you must," he nodded slowly.

"I have everything I need for him, but what comes next might require some more... 'specific' ingredients."

Kratharchi had heard this expression before, and even though he had gone through the motions seemingly countless times in the past, he dreaded it every time. Still, he reluctantly moved toward the back of the cavern to where some of the coals were gathered. They were still glowing with a faint heat and light, resting in a small, cracked bowl fashioned from an old hollowed skull he had come across some years before. The snow drake breathed softly over the embers, which froze almost immediately. He dumped them on the ground at his feet, and brought the bowl over to a slab of rock on the opposite side of the room that jutted out enough to place objects on without worrying about them falling off. He stepped back and nodded.

Daristhesda walked up to the bowl, and looked down into it. The bone was strong, and, although slightly cracked, still whole.   
"Perfect."

She grinned with all of her sharp teeth. Without hesitation, she raised up her paw and bit into the fleshiest part of it, tearing open the softer hide with practiced ease. Her mouth filled with the metallic yet sweet taste of blood, and even Kratharchi flinched as she spat it into to the bowl. He was never going to get used to that. Daristhesda put her paw straight back onto the ground, still bleeding from the bite wound, and closed her eyes. She sat in dead silence for a minute, apparently not noticing the small trickle of blood that dripped down her chin. The snow drake looked somewhat nervously around the room, and was just about to get up and walk out when his mate opened her mouth once more.

What came out was a incessant string of garbled words and animalistic noises in a language he couldn't hope to comprehend.

Daristhesda opened her eyes again, and turned around to face her mate once again, grinning maniacally. Kratharchi continued to look around, searching for the result of the sand drake's summons.

"There's no need to yell," said a deep, smooth voice that the snow drake had only ever heard once before and had hoped to never hear again in his lifetime. "I'm right here."

Kratharchi turned around to face the tall, bipedal figure that had materialized out of nowhere in the cavern. It was thin, feathered, and clothed in a worn, dark, dusky purple robe that flowed from its proud shoulders all the way down to its light grey, scaled feet. The feathers themselves ranged from slate grey to deep navy blue, but the figure's most impressive features were by far on its face. Above two deep teal eyes that seemed to refract light in a million different blues and greens sprouted two magnificent eyeridge crests, tinted a light mint. The same color was expressed in a smooth, oval shape in the center of the forehead - it looked like a polished stone up close, but could be mistaken for a third eye at a distance. The bright orange flesh at the edge of the grey beak was stretched upward in a wry smile. The avian's eyes flicked once from Kratharchi, and landed on Daristhesda.

She wasted no time in getting to her point.

"Ahirueed - can you do it?" she asked with urgency.

"You've bound me - there's not much I can do about it," the avian replied as he looked with an almost bored expression at the bland room. "Hasn't exactly changed much since I was last here, has it?"

Kratharchi stepped forward, ignoring the comment.   
"How many Id are bound to you?"

Ahirueed's piercing gaze shot back towards him. It was unnerving.

"Three. You know this."

Daristhesda stepped forward again.

"Show them."

"Very well."

As the avian spread out his arms and closed his eyes, the two drakes both took a couple of steps back. Kratharchi would have gone even farther, if the ledge behind him hadn't stopped him in his path.

In the same guttural language that the sand drake had uttered earlier, Ahirueed began to chant something repeatedly. His shadow, which up until this point was darkly cast on the cave wall behind him, suddenly split into three separate, independently hued copies: one a dark magenta, another a deep teal, and the last a toxic green. These shadows slowly began to change form as the bird continued his dirge, and slid down off of the wall and into different corners of the room. Each shadow then grew consecutively darker, and then began to grow into three dimensional masses that grew and grew with every syllable. The forms gained shape and size, finally stopping when each grotesque visage opened what appeared to be eyes.

Ahirueed did the same, and then gestured first to the dark magenta shadowy abomination. It had the head of something akin to an owl, only with three eyes instead of two. A huge structure protruded from each of its shoulders and connected above its head like some sick, pointed crown, also featuring a horrid glowing eye at its center.

"Respechioss, Id of wisdom and cunning."

The avian then introduced the second of the horrors, a hulking figure with an equine-like head and two fanged mouths on either side of its face, each with two eyes situated in the sunken sockets above them. A fifth eye was situated at the apex of what looked like a single horn, jutting out from its thickly plated forehead.

"Kangerrak, Id of rage and prowess."

The last Dust demon was then introduced. It sat in the corner, wasp head twitching. Its massive green eyes glowed like noxious lamps, and impossibly strong mandibles gnashed together repeatedly. Where its antennae should have been, two horns grew and joined in the center, at which yet another eye flicked to and fro restlessly.

"Meritos, Id of emotion and willpower." Ahirueed turned back around to face the drakes, arms out wide like he was showing off something ordinary he wanted to sell.

"Take your pick. I know your intentions."

Kratharchi hadn't realized his maw was agape until the bird snapped his clawed fingers and the shadowy abominations instantly fizzled out of existence, or so it seemed. Ahirueed noticed, and winked.

"Those weren't even their true forms, you know."

The snow drake knew this. He was much more learned than the majority of his race, particularly where these 'Ids' were concerned. From his knowledge, the Dust Ids were only able to enter the tangible plane through a small rift in the fabric of spacetime - something that hadn't been done since the Gap itself had first appeared all those millennia ago. The Dust Ids were merely passengers that came through - spirits of pure power and impulse. They weren't inherently evil, but could certainly cause havoc if given the chance. Or a vessel. Kratharchi knew next to nothing about the mysterious avian standing in the cave, only that he was one such vessel. Somehow, he had managed to gain control over not one, not two, but three Dust Ids, each of which he had just offered the drakes a glimpse of. Nobody knew how he did it, where he came from, how old he was, nor even if he was mortal.

Daristhesda seemed not to care.

"Why only one?" she asked impatiently.

The avian locked his gaze with hers.

"I sustain these Id, and they sustain me. Free more than one for only a moment, and they will wreak havoc on us all."

The sand drake harrumphed, looked once to her mate, and then back at the bird.

"Fine. The second one. Kangerrak."

Ahirueed smiled slowly.

"So be it. Call your whelpling," he gestured towards the wall behind which was the room Uovos had retreated earlier on.

Daristhesda screeched in that general direction. "Uovos! Get in here now. With haste!"

~~~~

Uovos was curled up in a dark corner when he heard his mother calling his name. Over the past hour or so, he had been wrestling with his internal thoughts and reviewing the events of that day. He was just preparing to actually go to sleep for the first time in a while, when Daristhesda's shrill voice yanked him out of his thoughts. He picked up his head heavily, and gave a shaky sigh. Uovos sniffed as he struggled once more to his feet, the bruises on his limbs and face beginning to throb painfully with every heartbeat. He didn't have the faintest clue what his mother could want with him. She hadn't spoken to him in weeks, with the exception of a snide or disappointed remark here or there. He limped to the crack and, without looking, took a few steps into the light of the main chamber.

"Yes, moth-AH" he yelled with surprise as a tall, alien figure suddenly grabbed his face with a cold hand, claws digging slightly into his chin. Uovos looked up into a pair of unforgiving, equally cold teal eyes, situated on either side of a long, sharp beak that was pointed straight down at him.

"It's alright, little one. This is a necessary procedure. I promise it will only hurt for a short while," the figure said with a smooth, chocolatey tone that had the opposite of a soothing effect on the young drake.

Uovos whimpered, and wriggled uselessly in the avian's grasp. His eyes widened in terror as the avian reached up with his other hand, and drove his claws straight into the drake's left eye socket. He let out a gut-wrenching scream as agony washed over him. His world went dark from the pain, and he crumpled to the ground. While Uovos was struggling to comprehend what was happening, all he could hear were what sounded like a bunch of jumbled words, in between which sounded something like a name: Kangerrak.

~~~~ 

Daristhesda watched these events with wide, excited eyes and an almost gleeful expression. As Ahirueed was chanting away, she could see the Bird's shadow separating as it had done before, only this time only the dark teal form arose. As the thing seemed to slide across the floor and towards her hatchling's newly empty, profusely bleeding eye socket, she whipped her head around to face Kratharchi.

"Now!"

The snow drake nodded, understanding what his mate wanted him to do. While Ahirueed appeared to still be in a trance, muttering in that strange language, the drake made a move to pounce on him. The avian only fell down in response to having his chest cavity being ripped open by sub-zero talons. When his feathered head hit the ground, his eyes focused on Kratharchi. After spitting up a glob of dark blue blood, he chuckled quietly.

"That was a mistake."

~~~~ 

Uovos, after several seconds of relative unconsciousness, suddenly become hyper aware of what his other senses were screaming at him. He dimly acknowledged as his father flew at the avian and began to tear into him viciously. He noticed his mother just standing there, laughing at the circumstances. He heard the bird mutter something before he expired, feathers flying everywhere. He felt as something cold approached him, although he couldn't see, hear, or smell it.

And then, there it was. Suddenly, everything seemed crystal clear to him. His eye no longer hurt. In fact, neither did his bruises. Uovos blinked, with both eyes. He stood up, slowly, but not painfully. He cocked his head and looked at his mother. She was looking back at him, with deranged elation. He looked at his father, who looked back with something Uovos had never seen before: fear.

Uovos wasn't confused, no. Nor scared. He couldn't feel anything, he decided. Not any emotion, nor pain.

No, that wasn't it either. He could feel something, but it took him a second to place what it was.

Rage.

Then the teal light filled the cavern, and Daristhesda, Kratharchi, and Ahirueed were no more.

When darkness smothered the small drake's senses, he didn't notice the flitting shadows fleeing the room, one a dark magenta, and the other a deep green.

 

~Palidalba~

Arkhan had no clue of what to make of the opal-shelled, magenta speckled orb he stumbled across on his path. It was only a few days before that he had last patrolled his region, and he hadn't seen this strange, abandoned object anywhere previously. It was covered in a thin layer of snow, but the morning sun glinting off its smooth surface had caught his watchful eye. As a an esteemed arcanesmith, he had taken his vows to never father a hatchling. That being said, he had seen his fair share of eggs before - each of them smashed to smithereens. For it was only drakes and wyverns that laid eggs, not dragons, like himself.

He would have smashed this one, too, but something stopped him. It didn't look like the normal snow drake eggs he had encountered before. It was rounder and shinier, for one, and also slightly larger than the norm. It didn't have the right coloration, either.

It might be valuable, one part of his mind thought. He could bring it back from his patrol and sell it for a considerable sum, and get some new smithing tools out of it.

It might be something entirely new, said the other half of his brain. Something remarkable, if given the chance. Something he could create and temper himself. No, those weren't the words... raise - that was it .

What, are you mad? Arkhan asked himself. You took a vow. It's against tradition to raise a hatchling. Probably not even possible for you, either. That was true - smithing and patrolling did take up most of his time. He wouldn't have enough time to look after a hatchling. But still... something inexplicable still appealed to him in ways he couldn't explain.

"Archsmith! Your watch is nearly ended," Arkhan heard a voice call distantly behind him, carried on the strong mountain winds. He raised one of his large, brown, leathery wings as a visual response. He took one more long look at the egg through warm, golden eyes.

Hrrrr... I'm going to regret this, he thought to himself as he trudged through the snow, lifted the egg gently from the ground, and placed it gingerly into his patrol sack.

Arkhan then began the long trek back around the mountainside, through the thick snow and howling wind, towards the heavily guarded and arcanically disguised entrance to the realm he, along with all mountain dragons, had called home for centuries - the Underground City. As he passed through the magnificently carved stone doors, seen only by the trained arcane eye, Arkhan was greeted by those guarding the path.

Little did any of them know that they had just allowed what would become the genesis of a long-awaited change into the hidden realm. 

~~~~ 

End of Chapter One.


End file.
